SHINAR . A term employed in the OT for the greater part, if not the whole, of Babylonia ( Genesis 10:19; Genesis 11:2; Genesis 14:1; Genesis 14:9 , Joshua 7:21 , Isaiah 11:11 , Zechariah 5:11 , Daniel 1:2 ). Its former identification with Sumer , or Southern Babylonia, never regarded as very satisfactory, is now given up. Equally untenable is the view that it is to be identified with Shankhar , a land or district the king of which is mentioned in a letter from Tell el-Amarna along with the king of Khatti. There is little doubt that Shinar is to be identified with the land of Babylonia, but the origin of the name has not been determined.
L. W. King.